Japan Typhoon Latest

Japan Typhoon Latest, A deadly typhoon has killed at least 100 people dead or missing after devastating the western Japan, officials said, piling more misery in a country trying to recover from the tsunami of March.

Talas brought torrential rains and strong winds when it made landfall Saturday, swelling rivers and causing landslides that destroyed buildings on the southwestern island of Shikoku, the Kii Peninsula and the Chugoku region.

At least 50 people were confirmed dead in nine prefectures.

With more than 50 people still missing, the storm looks to be the deadliest in Japan since October 1979 when a powerful typhoon claimed 115 lives, the Japan Meteorological Agency.

In most affected Wakayama alone, 35 died and 33 remain missing, authorities said.

Talas, which has grown from Japan on Sunday, has been downgraded to a tropical storm, but the remains of the climate system, along the coast north Noru typhoon, bringing heavy rains continued in northern Japan.

Heavy rains brought more misery in a country trying to recover from March 11 earthquake and tsunami, with a 56-year-old who drowned in Saitama Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, officials said Wednesday.

In Nara, local police and rescue workers found a body buried in the mud on the morning of Wednesday, raising the death toll to five in one Prefecture, where there are many more missing, and a local police officer.

Massive mudslides from the weekend had cut off access roads to thousands who live in mountain communities, but local officials said rescuers were able to cater to many places.

In Wakayama Prefecture, the number of braiding has been reduced from about 4,500 to 225, mainly due to the restoration of access roads, a local government official.

The new Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, who took office last week, is scheduled to visit the affected areas on Friday to inspect the damage of the typhoon.

Noda also visit on Thursday Fukushima, home to a nuclear plant crippled by disaster March 11 at the center of the worst nuclear crisis in the world since Chernobyl 25 years ago.